Wow. That’s it. I sat here for a long time trying to figure out how to open this recap, and that’s the only thing that kept coming to my mind. It’s sometimes hard for entire cards to live up to the hype, but this one did. The buzz around Houston leading up to this event was that this could very well be the fight card of the year, and despite losing several key fights at the last moment, this was still one of the best night of fight in Houston in 2010.
There were lots celebrities in the house, including Houston Texans players, Boxer Lou Savarese, and Doug from the Rod Ryan Show, but one celebrity out shown them all; Peter Tsatsaronis. Peter is a 7 years old boy who has Hodgkins Lymphoma and Drew Raticheck dedicated his fight to Peter and brought him into the ring afterward to help bring attention to Peter’s fight. Please stop by Peter’s Facebook page and show your support!
If you’re looking for more details, please read our live play by play of each fight here.
John Malbrough vs Marc Garcia
For most of the day at weigh ins, it looked like John Malbrough was going to have to postpone his pro debut at Legacy after having his opponent back out. However, Marc Garcia and his camp posted on TheCageDoor.net that they would be willing to step in and fight John. So on about 24 hours notice, Marc Garcia stepped up and took the fight. Garcia gave Malbrough a great fight, but John proved to be too much for him over all, earning a unanimous decision victory over a very tough Garcia.
Drew Ratichek vs Terrance Ferguson
Both fighters made their debut in this fight, but Terrance Ferguson would be the only one to debut victoriously. The fight went the distance and was a back and forth battle with both fighters showing good skill on the ground and on their feet. Ratichek’s stand up looked much better than in previous fights. Ferguson won via unanimous decision, and did so by mixing up a good balance of a ground work and striking along with several effective take downs that probably won him the 2nd and 3rd rounds. All in all, it was a very close fight, and good debuts for both fighters.
Akira Smith vs Angel Huerta
Many people felt like this fight could win fight of the night honors, and it did not disappoint. The crowd was going nuts in anticipation of this fight. Both fighters exploded out of the gates, showcasing their exciting brand of stand up. Huerta tried to turn the tables on The Afro Samurai and apply pressure early by overwhelming him with a deadly combination of speed, power and amazing accuracy. Huerta dropped Smith with a left hook, and then later with a head kick. After the head kick, Huerta pounced and eventually forced the referee to step in and stop the fight. Huerta moved to 2-0 and put the 135 pound division on notice here in Houston. Smith drops his pro debut, but expect to see him rebound and stay in the mix at 135.
Alex Black vs Greg Bellomy
Alex Black made his pro debut in dramatic fashion by beating Greg Bellomy via TKO in the first round. Many felt that Black was an underdog going into the fight as Bellomy is a big strong 145′er with amazing skills. Black, however is a skilled fighter that moved up quickly through the amateur ranks on his was to earning a reputation as an exciting fighter with a ton of skill, heart and desire. Alex got in trouble early in round one, but recovered at the end of the round by catching a side choke from the bottom. Bellomy looked a bit dazed on his way back to his corner, but probably won the round.
Round two would see Black come out with a flurry of strikes reminiscent of his exciting and now famous Legacy Muay Thai fight with Cody Phillips. Bellomy appeared to be defending many of the strikes, but apparently te ref felt like he wasn’t doing a good enough job of defending himself and stepped in and stopped the fight. Black was landing some shots, but Bellomy appeared to be ok and the stoppage did seem to be a bit premature. Never the less, Black did what he needed to earn the victory in his pro debut.
Aaron Barringer v. Tim Snyder
This fight pitted two wiley vets against each other. Barringer retooled his game and spent the last couple of months working on his boxing and stand up. Snyder came in having lost 5 of his last 6 fights, but doing so facing some of Texas’s toughest 145′ers, including Will Campuzano, Chas Skelly and Johnny Bedford. Both fighters scored early with a couple of combos. Barringer managed to work into a standing arm in guillotine but wasn’t able to finish it. After working the clinch for a bit, the fighters separated and during an exchange, Snyder caught Barringer flush with a left hook and knocked him out. It appeared to be a flash knockout but was good enough to end the fight. Barringer, always gracious in victory or defeat, could be heard and seen complimenting Snyder form the canvas and later after the fight. Snyder looked good and proved he is worthy of his #3 ranking. He also earned our Knockout of the Night honors.
Rey Trujillo v. Ray Blodget
Any time Rey Trujillo is in an MMA fight, you are going to get your money’s worth. This fight was no exception. The battle of Rey vs Ray was not only our choice for Fight of the Night, but it was probably one of the better fights to be seen this year here in Houston. I likened it to a ground version of the Trujillo/Rivera fight back in March.
Early in the fight, Trujillo was giving Blodgtt all he could handle, including a heavy dose of kicks. The first round was fought at a frantic pace, and Blodget appeared gassed at the end of the round. The next four rounds where fought on the ground for the most part, where Blodgtt would be to much for the gritty Trujillo. Blodget was simply more skilled when it came to grappling, but Trujillo used his explosiveness and slick escape to avoid getting submitted.
In the end, Blodget earned the victory, moving his record to 5-0-0 and winning the Legacy FC 155lb title.
Jonathon Harris v. Mike Bronzoulis
This fight will for ever be known as the tossed salad fight. Both fighters got into it at weigh ins but TheCageDoor.net would later learn that they both made nice at the rules meeting. In fact, they touched gloves as Bronzoulis passed Harris in his pre-fight run around the ring.
The fight would live up to the hype as both fighter rushed to the center of the ring to start the fight. It was back and forth in the beginning, but Bronzoulis would eventually get full mount on Harris and continue to bombard him with strikes, forcing the ref to stop the fight. The victory earned Bronzoulis the Legacy FC 170lb title.
First!
Great night of fights!
Great fight, Snyder!
All in all a great card. Glad we could be part of it. Mick puts on a class act show and look forward to what he has up his sleeve for the next one
holy shite! those were some crazy good fights! Paradigm 3-0 with 3 ko/tko’s….hmmm wrestling gym what?!
What are talking about Colin’s all you have is old metro fighters. Y’all haven’t made anyone, all those guys are products off Saul hommie. Then you said you where going to knock out Jimenez and as soon as Jimenez touched your faced you jumped guard went to the ground. Tim,Mike,Brian and Angel came from Metro they already had hands and ground. Don’t take credit from Saul I hate gyms that take credit because one fighter comes from another gym and make it seem they produce them. Bro produce y’all own fighter’s then you can talk, to all the gyms that talk all that mess about they have this fighter. DON’T TAKE CREDIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE’S HARD WORK. If anything they have taught y’all what Saul has taught them, son don’t talk mess you can’t back up.
hey I just looked up metro fight club it looks legit. why did the fighters leave?
What happend to the Martial Artist in mixed martial arts. Wheres the respect for the sport and competition both before and after the event. Bruce Lee would jump out of his grave and backfist everyone for the way words were thrown around this week. Great job to everyone who fought, win or lose! Great card and we dont need drama to make them entertaining.
On a good note. All the fighters looked and acted very professional last night. And who do I think from Legacy should be in the UFC??? Easy. Randy Howard, best ref in MMA!
@chase don’t know why they left, would have to asked them. I heard different story’s, but there are always to side off the story. But for that kid Colin’s to talk like that is retarded and a slap too Saul’s face and other coaches that have put in the time. There are gyms just like that one that take credit from someones work. There are a few gyms out there that have produce fighters that had no experience or had no kind off experience in fighting. So Colin shut your mouth and have respect for real coaches not fake ass gyms that claim they taught them. This the problem that every gym has, and is not address. Saul had made a comment one time to my coach, fighters come and go. But the ones that respect you and listen to your experience well stay and become good fighters the ones that think they know everything or just think they know more than you well leave and someone well take credit for it. Just know your the reason they are where they are because off you, the one that opened the door and they closed it in your face. Perfect example the movie rocky when rocky teaches that fighter that Tommy Morrison plays, he gets greedy and leave the man that gave him a home knowledge and love. Then spits in his face. Saul started all this here in Houston , and if it wasn’t for him we will still be behind everyone else. Now that’s the truth so have respect.
I don’t think Colin was dissing Saul at all. I think he was excited about his teammates doing well. We all get excited when we see our friends who we have trained with be successful. As for the split and everything else, The people involved know what the case was and thats all that need to know.
We all credit Saul for helping us and coaching us, and have never said differently. Metro is where I started and learned most of what I know. I went there because of Saul. We had a great team there and were very successful. Things change and they don’t go the way you plan them sometimes. You do the best you can and move on from there. Our new coaches here at Paradigm are not trying to take credit for anything. They are simply trying to add to what we already have and we are helping them as well. It has benefitted everyone involved and it works for us.
I’d like to take this moment to remind everyone that personal attacks will not be tolerated and will be removed. As always, we welcome heated debate and discussion, even if it is off topic
, but please leave the name calling and such for the forums (http://www.thecagedoor.net/forum).
Thanks for understanding.
Well said Brian,
I was hoping a paradigm fighter would make some sense of this troll job.
Hey Justin, (or Barry) that was a really nice video played after the barringer-snyder fight, any chance you’ll be uploading that?
The fights were fantastic. Good job out there everyone.
Well spoken Brian, I understand want you are saying. Sir you are a real fighter. @admin I wasn’t attacking anyone am just let this kid know he needs to respect. Sorry if you think that, but not my comments.
I believe if you are going to log on here and trash talk, atleast have the “nuts” to put your real name. Whats up with hidding behind fake names. The only sleeping beauty that I know is a “fairy” tale. So if you want to be known as a “fairy” tale, that’s up to you. At least Colin has put his real name.
@Kelly then u should tell everybody else that logs in under a different name. Again I wasn’t attacking him, he needs just to respect. And he was talking a lot off mess on the radio, before fighting Jimenez. So sorry if a offended your man, bro everyone likes to talk. But when someone says different everyone gets hurt.:(
@sleeping beauty – I was speaking in general terms and not directly to you. The one comment I removed was not yours.
Thank you admin sorry taught you where talking about me. Love everything y’all gave done for Houston mma , just one comment when ate y’all going to start interview new up and coming talent. The future off Houston’s fighters bro there is a lot off talent.
So apparently I need to learn some respect….funny though, I don’t remember getting on here under a fake name and don’t remember talking smack about any body. As Brian mentioned I was excited for my teammates. As far as taking credit for someone else’s hard work, I think I’m a pretty intelligent guy and figure out where most of our main talent came from. Saul is a world class trainer and I have personally never said one bad thing about him and on a personal note have always wanted to learn from him. That being said there is also a lot of stuff that those guys have learned and have improved on at Paradigm. As far as the whole me saying I was going to knock someone out and then got hit and all that crap you were talking, well you know what? It was my second fight. I’ve been working a lot on my stand up and felt confident in my skills. That was the first time I had been hit in a fight and was caught off guard a little, so I reverted back to what I do best, and still managed to pull off the victory. I guess the whole reason I’m posting on this (because seriously it’s barely worth the effort to write all this) is to say that I am not offended by what you say, and in fact it makes me even more motivated because if you weren’t hating we wouldn’t be doing anything right. So continue to talk all you want sleeping beauty because it’s haters like you that are gonna make me a champ one day…future_of_135! OUT!